Heroes Wear Green
by Ceciliavonjoy
Summary: Hyrule has recovered from its latest disaster, and is heading towards an era of peace. At least, for most people. Shadow, a natural cynic and unwilling wandering "hero", finds himself pulled into an arduous quest by a fairy who couldn't guide Link out of a paper bag. Will Shadow succeed? Is the quest more than it seems? And just who is this blue guy?
1. Hyrule Gone Cucco

The usual dappled specks of sunlight swayed gently to the ground in the Deku Tree's forest. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and a fairy was screaming at the top of their lungs, cutting through the usual peace of the woods.

Tiny wings hummed, flapping as fast as they possibly could. His path was erratic and zigzagged up and down and around the trees, wherever looked safer next. Something large behind him thudded from tree to tree. The treetops shook and the light specks danced. The thing hit a tree trunk and shot itself towards another, and another, and another and another, dull thuds like a war drum pounding after the tiny yellow ball of light.

A blade tore through air. The fairy cried out, though it missed by a foot, and tried desperately to fly faster.

The gaps between the trees started to widen, the specks of sun growing larger. Something that wasn't more trees became visible beyond.

Outside! That meant he was heading outside! Ordinarily any thought of Outside filled him with fear. He had never been out of the forest. Right now, though, whatever was chasing him was scarier. They would take him away like the others… It was jumping between the trees. If he got away from the forest, it might stop!

His path changed from zigzags to a straight, focused shot. The thuds became slightly slower as the trees got farther apart. The miniscule heart in the fairy's chest raced.

The canopy of leaves ended just ahead, to a field of sunlight. Just a little farther…!

The thing behind him fell behind, its sounds fading. And the fairy shot out of the trees, into the blinding sunlight. All around was open space, the field of green grass making waves whenever a breeze came by. A dirt path snaked to a cluster of wooden, boxy structures, like large trees but in cube form. He had no idea what those were.

He listened for a second.

The thuds had stopped! He was safe!

"Y-Yes!" He laughed with relief, bobbing up and down in midair. "I did it! I did-"

The victory shout died in his teeny tiny throat. A masked being with a sickle had jumped down and was running at him from the trees.

The fairy screamed again and fled for what he didn't know was a town.

The yard of a house in the eastern outskirts of Castle Town was in complete disarray. A meat-drying rack had been knocked to the ground. Ashes and soot from a thankfully extinguished fire pit had been stepped in, kicked around, and tracked everywhere. A laundry line had snapped, leaving a kite trail of formerly clean clothes lying in the dirt and covered in smeared sooty footprints. Half the fence around a cucco coop by the house lay cracked on the ground. Every resident of the coop was squawking their loudest, wound up by the excitement that had just ended.

A mobian was on the ground, catching his breath, a struggling cucco pinned under his arms. He stood up with some difficulty, partially because of a heavy traveler's pack on his back and partially because the bird was doing its best to escape. His off-white tunic, edged in vibrant green with a winged pattern on the chest, swayed as he walked. His worn brown boots were covered in ashes, dust, and mud.

Shadow glanced around at the devastation, and sighed. Great. He had underestimated _a cucco, _and now he was going to be yelled at. Probably not paid, either.The cucco swiveled its head and started to peck at one of the wooden rings around his wrists.

He limped over to a human woman waiting just outside the radius of disaster, the short sword at his hip bouncing. He had to look up quite a bit to speak to her. "Caught it…"

He'd been thinking of her as The Chicken Lady. She surveyed the damage, her eyes lingering on the coop. The Chicken Lady was a larger woman with untidy red hair and a beaked nose, looking a lot like a cucco herself.

"Really!" She huffed. "You couldn't have done that more carefully!?" He'd been about to grudgingly agree when she kept going. "The other cuccos are all upset now! Listen to them!" She scolded, hands on her hips. "You've terrified my poor babies!"

Shadow blinked. _That_ was what she worried about?

"…I could fix some of the damage."

"I don't care about that. That's just stuff." She waved it away impatiently. "These birds are my livelihood! My life, in fact! They give us eggs, meat, and love! No bird is as gentle and sensitive as the cucco!"

The cucco in his arms had worked out that the wood wasn't a part of Shadow's body, and instead started to peck at his brown leather glove.

"Right," Shadow said flatly, watching it try to hurt his hand and/or eat leather.

"You just don't understand how easy it is to damage their delicate psyches," she went on, shaking her head at his ignorance. "It affects their egg-laying. Poor Bridgette must be traumatized! I really don't think you deserve the reward."

_There_ it is. Assume the worst, and you'll never be disappointed. More specifically, always assume that anyone yelling 'A thousand rupees for whoever finds my prized cucco!' is at best exaggerating.

"If you insist," he said dryly. "I can always sleep under a tree again."

"A little outdoors never hurt anybody," she said defensively. Chicken Lady leaned over, her arms out. "Give her to me. She needs me to put her in the coop."

Shadow surrendered the cucco with no reluctance whatsoever. The woman wrapped her vast, loving arms around the struggling bird.

"Shh, it's okay, baby..." she cooed, shifting the cucco into the crook of one elbow and giving it a pat. "Momma's here."

The bird did not seem to hear 'Momma', but was pinned by her meaty arm and really couldn't do anything to her.

Chicken Lady looked back down at Shadow. Her voice became significantly less affectionate. _"You're still here?_"

He met her eyes evenly, arms crossed, not saying anything.

"…Alright, fine." She surrendered with a huff. "You _did _catch her. I suppose even with your insensitivity you deserve _something._"

Chicken Lady dug into her pocket, drew a closed fist out, and pressed it into the hand he'd raised. "There. Now get going," she said, making a 'shoo' motion with her hand. "I have to make sure my babies relax."

"You're welcome."

Then Shadow turned to go, with a last glimpse of the woman flouncing away. He glanced around briefly to judge direction. Castle Town, as a former trade hub, had a lot of old roads connected to it. He picked one, a dusty road to the south, then started a trudge down it.

He opened his hand as he walked. A blue rupee glinted in his palm. Five. Well, fine... It was better than nothing.

He slid it in his pocket as he left Castle Town, not looking back. His visit had been almost a complete waste of time: an overall 12 rupee loss, and not a soul there had seen him before. Only the 'Look at my wares!' merchants had really been keen on noticing him.

Them and the 'Help me! 'people. The ones who wanted something found or killed that they couldn't, or didn't want to, manage themselves. He swore some people did nothing but wait for help to show up. Shadow kept intending to say no, and he did, but they always kept pushing. Please, please, please help? For a reward? Then, his conscience and need for money would both yell at him, and he went after cuccos and bandits and lost heirlooms and whatever else people could think of. The money wasn't great, but it was enough to get by.

Unfortunately, the killing part of this had gotten easier the more he had done it.

A distant high-pitched scream made him flinch and reach for his sword. The sound got louder as a ball of light zoomed at him, and a screaming orb hit him in the forehead.

"Dnh-!" Shadow went back a step. It hit hard enough to hurt. What the hell had that been, an insect? He plucked the small, warm thing off his head.

It wasn't a bug. A tiny Mobian with a canary-yellow glow dangled, dazed and limp, from a thin dragonfly-like wing. The glow, somehow, clearly defined their features instead of obscuring them. Even odder, size difference aside, the tiny being looked almost exactly like him, but dark gray with bright yellow streaks.

The little being came to, wings fluttering, and glanced around, growing more and more alarmed. Shadow let them go. Instead of fleeing, they looked him up and down, saw the sword and armor, and in a squeaky voice said the horrible, familiar words.

"Please, help me!"

Then the thundering footsteps came and it became clear what exactly he was supposed to be helping with. Someone almost too tall to be human was running towards them, hunched over like an ape. The reddish armor, matching the color of the symbol on their eyeless mask, was thin and close to their skin, made for movement. They drew closer and slowed, raising themselves to their full height. They held a scythe in their hand, and the wicked blade gleamed over the hedgehog's head.

The fairy squeaked and fluttered behind Shadow's back.

Shadow hadn't moved an inch. He looked up at the being like he had to do with any human, one brow raised. "And what do _you_ want?"

Mask paused, weapon stopped high in the air. The painted eye on their masked face stared at him. Most potential victims screamed or ran or showed some kind of fear, not asked them to clarify why exactly they were threateningly waving sharp things around. They lowered the scythe and almost politely pointed behind Shadow with it, where the fairy had gone.  
Shadow's short sword slid from its sheath, gripped in his left hand. "No."

Mask cocked their head, let out a oddly high-pitched laugh, and swung the sickle down.

It swished through air as Shadow threw himself sideways. The fairy cried out and fluttered backwards. His sword arced into Mask's outstretched arm, hard enough to leave a notch like an axe into a tree that bled. Mask made a pained sound. Shadow slid one foot back as they recovered and jumped at them, higher than any human could. The scythe raised to react, but a deceptively thin arm hooked around Mask's neck and squeezed. Shadow walked up their chest to climb them and get upright, and held the sword to their throat.

"Give it up and leave." Shadow just slightly jabbed the sword. "Or _this _gets closer."

Mask made a choked, fearful kind of noise, raising their arms in the air.

Shadow let it linger there a moment more for emphasis before he let go, pushing off the being with his feet. Mask stumbled back with the push, rather meekly allowing it to happen. The wind was taken out of their sails; so much so that the wind was going the opposite direction and taking them away with it.

Shadow landed on his feet almost before the strangely tall being fled. He watched them hurry away down the road and dart into the trees as soon they provided enough cover. A cowardly bully, picking on the weak. The short sword slid back into its sheath. Even he was better than that…if marginally.

The little yellow fairy fluttered forwards as Shadow turned back around. A broad look of awe was on his tiny face. "Wow! That was amazing!" He said, practically vibrating in midair. "You're really strong!"

Shadow nodded, though with little enthusiasm. It was sort of weird to be happily praised by a small, smiley version of himself. That, and he had heard this kind of exchange before. Flatter, then ask for more help. That was great, o brave swordsman! Could you do it again, but over there, with something else, maybe in a deadly temple of some kind?

"Please, um-… Uh, what's your name?"

"Shadow."

"Shadow? Okay. Are you busy?" The yellow fairy asked hopefully. "Because, I… I need help. Please? With something kinda big?"

BINGO! He wasn't saying exactly what it would be, either, so that meant it would most likely be difficult and/or unpleasant. Great.

Outwardly, Shadow showed no emotion. "With what?"

"Er, well- See…" Yellow took a deep breath and plunged in, speaking very fast. "It's been days since I've seen my brothers, which, uh, sometimes that's normal! But, but then that guy tried to kidnap me! I-I think they got taken too! I'm really worried about them-!"

Alright, enough. That actually sounded important…

"So, um, I was hoping-"

"You're too small to do something yourself," Shadow cut him off, "so you were hoping I would help you find them."

"Uh- Yes! Exactly!" The fairy stared in amazement. "Can you read minds?"

Shadow didn't roll his eyes, but only because there was no real point in doing so. "No," he said evenly. "You're just predictable."

"You don't have to call me words I don't know…-" Yellow shook his head. "Nevermind, just, will you help me?" He clasped his teeny tiny hands together, expression and pose both begging. "_Please?_"

Shadow grimaced. He pretty much had to do it, didn't he? Teeny tiny tears started to well up in teeny tiny yellow eyes. Damn pitiful little fairy was showing him no mercy.

"Fine," he said. "I'll help you. I'm not busy."

Yellow sighed with relief, smiling. "A-Ah, thank you! Thank you. Gosh, I didn't know what I was going to do. I'm glad I ran into you!"

That made one of them… He could look on the way, at least. As soon as he finished this, he could return to searching by himself. Shadow asked, "Where did Mask come from?"

"Huh? Oh, uh…" Yellow thought for a moment. "I don't know… They showed up out of nowhere. I was alone, and they cornered me."

"Did they do or say anything that might point to where they came from, or what they wanted?"

Yellow shook his head. "No… They never said anything. I mean…" He cocked his head, expression trying to concentrate. "I thought they were trying to kidnap me, but I guess it might _not_ be that?"

No idea at all, then. That was annoying. A reasonable thing for him not to know, but still. Annoying. "Then nevermind that." Shadow shook his head. "How many brothers do you have, and how suddenly did they disappear?"

"Oh," Yellow said, "I have five older brothers. And…now that I think about it, they didn't all leave at the same time. It was more one by one. "

Five tiny fairies taken by who knows who and hidden who knows where. Shadow inhaled sharply, and let it out as a long sigh. The tiny, desperate hope that this might turn out to be straightforward was dying a painful death. "Do you know _anything _useful?" He asked, not quite hiding his frustration. "Any piece of information that would narrow my job down from searching under every rock in Hyrule?"

"I'm-... I'm trying." Yellow said, sounding a little hurt. "This has been stressful. Um…"

He stopped to think. Watching him think was like seeing a music box wind itself up before playing. Very, very slowly.

"Oh!" Yellow clapped his hands together, metaphorically lighting up. Metaphorically, because he was already literally a ball of light. "Right! I can sense other fairies! If we're near my brothers, I'll know! I can point you the right way!"

Oh, thank Hylia. Shadow relaxed a little bit. There was still most likely going to be a lot of traveling, but not impossible. "That helps. Which way from here?"

Yellow looked sheepish. "Uh…" A nervous laugh. "I was going to ask you that."

"I-" Today was not a good day for patience. "You _just said_ you could point me the right way."

"Well, yes, but-..." Yellow stammered at the icy stare. "I-I'm not sensing anyone _now!_ Um, anywhere but towards the forest?" He seemed to lose some of his cheer, and spoke more quietly. "They're not there. I know that for sure."

"Hm." Shadow thought for a moment. Grasping at straws was one of his many unwanted hobbies. The sad thing was, it worked half the time. "If Mask was chasing you in this direction..." He said this slowly, thinking. "...we should try northeast first. Perhaps they meant to drive you towards somewhere specific."

"Oh, I didn't even think of that!" Yellow cheered up a little. "Good idea."

The standards for what made a good idea seemed to be pretty low around here. Shadow nodded anyway. He turned around, scanned the area for a northeastern road, and then took the first step towards a very long quest.

"Oh-" Yellow started after him. "Wait for me!"

From there, Shadow was lucky for once, and got to walk in silence. Well… Almost. The fairy started humming. Something weird and tuneless that sounded like he was making it up as we went along. It was at least quiet enough to be tolerable, and still let him think.

He hadn't been in this direction before. There _could _be another town that way, but it would be best to plan as though there wasn't one. It was the afternoon, so at this speed he'd only be able to go so far before needing to camp somewhere, probably in the plains…

Shadow walked for about half a mile in this vein, working things out, the fairy humming and trailing sparkles through the air after him.

The fairy… He had been calling him Yellow in his head. The Chicken Lady and Mask both probably had actual names too, but ideally he wasn't ever going to see them again. This fairy, though, he was going to be stuck with for awhile. At the very, very least, he could call them by their actual name.

Shadow looked up. "You." The fairy innocently returned his glance. "What's your name?"

"Oh!" He smiled. "Right. My name's Yellow!"

Shadow blinked. For a second he thought he'd heard wrong. "You're serious."

"Er…" Yellow tilted his head, his smile wavering into confusion. "Yes? Why wouldn't I be?"

"Is this a nickname, or your actual damn name?"

"That's my actual d-... da- d-... My actual darn name! I glow yellow, I have yellow in my quills…" He shook his head, chuckling at how obviously silly the question was. "Really, what _else_ would my name be?"

Something you wouldn't call a pet might be a good start. Who the hell named fairies, and how much did they hate this particular one? "Names," Shadow said, "are not meant to be the first word that pops into your head when looking at someone."

"So…" The fairy looked at him in wonder. "You looked at me and thought 'Yellow'?"

"…Yes?"

"So you _can _read minds!"

"No I can't."

"Ooh!" He put his hands up to his teeny tiny temples. "What am I thinking now?"

"I don't know," said Shadow, no longer even looking at him. "We have a long ways to go."

"Oh, right. Yes. That's true." Yellow nodded sagely. "Don't worry, Shadow. I know a good way to pass the time. I learned it from one of my older brothers!"

He inhaled, and started to sing.

"99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of _beeeer!"_ His poor pitch wobbled like whacked gelatin. "You take one down, and pass it around, 98 bottles of beer on the wall!"

Shadow groaned. If only he had just kept his mouth shut.

"98 bottles of beer on the wall, 98 bottles of beer…"


	2. Good Night! Or, uh, or not

"O~One bottle of beer on the wall, one bottle of _beer!"_

They had walked, slow and steady, for three miles. The sky grew dark over their heads as the sun disappeared behind the horizon. The landscape had gradually turned rocky and barren as they went towards the mountains, growing colder, with a chill now blowing over the tundra…and Yellow's singing had gone on the entire time, _for five hours_, as strong as it had been when he'd begun. He had lost count and started over at least three times. Shadow was now completely convinced that fairies, as magical beings, did not have or use lungs. Or brains.

"You take one down and pass it around-… Uh, zero bottles of beer on the wall!"

Shadow waited. The final, offkey note faded away. Yellow did not start again. There was just Shadow's own steps, and the faint sound of buzzing wings.

His shoulders relaxed. Finally... _Silence._

"Hey, Shadow?"

Of course. What could he possibly want now? He glanced up. "Mm."

The fairy looked a little confused. "What's beer?"

Somehow Shadow managed not to snarl at him. His expression didn't have the same restraint; Yellow flinched and drew back in midair.

"Sorry, sorry…um, just curious."

Shadow looked away, staring ahead again. "…Have you sensed anything?"

"Well–" The fairy stammered. "Er, no. Not yet."

He responded to this with a grunt. Hadn't thought so. That would be far too convenient. He stopped walking, and glanced around. There was just enough light to see, the sky tinted a bright orange. Up ahead were a few scattered trees, and rocks that turned into boulders and glaciers of stone the closer they were to the mountains. Somewhere close by that was sheltered from the wind would be best…

Yellow earnestly looked around as well. "What are we looking for?" He asked.

"Somewhere to camp."

"Camp…? Oh, right," he said absently. "I forgot people need to sleep."

Shadow looked at him, his mouth open, and then away again without saying anything. Fairies, evidently, were tireless as well as brainless.

He strode forward again, more slowly, gaze sweeping critically around the barren, bumpy ground. Yellow dutifully looked around too. The fairy turned slowly around in place, hoping to see somewhere that screamed, or maybe just politely murmured, "Camp here!".

He finished the full turnaround, only to see that Shadow was twenty feet away.

Yellow jumped, "Wait for me!" and hurried after him.

Luckily for him, Shadow had stopped. He was looking up at a boulder that jutted majestically from the ground, its bulk blocking the wind. He made a vaguely satisfied noise, slung the pack from his back, and rifled through it.

"Oh, are we 'camping' here?" Asked Yellow. He sounded pleased about his newly gained grasp on the concept.

Shadow nodded, digging through his bag. He pulled out a sharp edged rock, a little bundle of some-kind-of-meat jerky, a cooking pot, two different sheathed knives, a thick coil of rope, two corked bottles of a sloshing mystery liquid, a bag of nuts, and, somehow, a whole sleeping bag.

He left out the sleeping bag, jerky, and the rock. Everything else went back in, nothing sticking out and the pack's flap closed neatly on top.

Yellow watched, more and more boggled as this went on.

"Uh?" he said, at the end. "How does all of that fit in there?"

Shadow shrugged. "Practice."

With that, they gathered firewood and stones for a fire pit and settled in there for the night. Or, Shadow did, anyways. There wasn't really much two-inch-tall Yellow could do, but he did try. A canary ball of light left for intervals and came back with tiny armfuls of twigs, moss, and pine needles for kindling.

He dropped another load of moss into the ring of stones, and looked over at Shadow with his pile of wood. "Are you sure there's nothing else for me to do?" He asked.

Shadow brought down his sword on another broken branch to split it. "Yes."

"Okay," Yellow said, nodding. "Just making sure!"

He glanced down at the small but painstakingly collected pile in the fire pit. He'd never started a fire in his life, but that was probably enough kindling, right? Right. It probably was. It looked right.

Yellow swelled with pride at a job well done, and looked up again. Shadow was holding down a branch with his right hand and chopping at it with his left.

"You don't talk much, huh?"

He let his sword down, and grunted.

"That's okay," Yellow said cheerfully, undeterred. "Strong but silent is a common hero personality."

Shadow paused mid-chop, and looked at him, brows furrowed. "What?"

"Don't be so surprised, Shadow. I do know some things," Yellow said proudly. "The Deku Tree passes her wisdom down to all of us fairies."

He spoke with a sarcasm that deadpanned a question down to a statement. "Is her wisdom where you got the beer song."

Yellow paused for a moment, looking thoughtful. "Well, I mean, I can't rule that out…" He nodded slowly, seriously considering this possibility. "Could be. All I know is that my brother Green knew it."

Yellow, now Green. Okay then. Shadow went back to what he was doing. He would snark about that later, once he wasn't as tired. Build a little fire, warm up, put it out, go to sleep. The plan was foolproof, since there were no fools out here in the wilderness, besides Yellow. No one who could suddenly appear and ask him to do things while he just wanted to sit down.

A howl rang through the night.

"Eep!" Yellow jumped in midair. "What was that?"

Shadow chopped the last branch, and sheathed his sword. That looked like enough now. "Just a wolf."

"A what?" He sounded worried. "Is that dangerous?"

Shadow stood up with the bundle of sticks, and walked over to the little fire pit. "Probably not."

"Uh… _Probably _not?"

Shadow knelt, and arranged the sticks to lean against each other, pointing up, making a little tent shape with the kindling inside. "Fire usually keeps them away."

"Oh." Yellow sounded relieved. "That's good."

The fairy watched with interest as Shadow drew his sword again, stuck it next to the tent of sticks, and struck the steel with the rock. Sparks flew off and Yellow gasped. The sparks caught Yellow's hard-found kindling, and a hot orange started to eat a cluster of pine needles.

"Wow! That's incredible!"

Shadow glanced at him. "Not really." He pointed at it. "It's already going out."

Yellow looked at it again. The pine needles that had caught were smoking, but as he watched the orange faded into black. "Oh."

Shadow made an unconcerned noise. "Always happens…"

He struck the sword again. No sparks. Yellow gasped anyways.

He swore under his breath, adjusted the angle of the rock, and tried again.

Bang.

"Oh!"

Bang. Sparks.

"Oh wow!"

Bang. Sparks.

"Oh, gosh!"

Bang. Sparks.

"Ohhh!"

"_Would you stop that?"_

"But it's so cool!" Yellow shook from excitement. "Look, look, it's working!"

It actually kind of was. The sparks had caught in different spots in the kindling, making spots of orange light and more smoke. Shadow watched the tiny embers barely flicker to life. Good, that might actually get the sticks to light…

Yellow had a look of eager anticipation. "So, what happens next?"

What happens– Shadow stared at him. Really? Does he not know what a _fire_ is? What kind of education did the Momku Tree or whatever give this guy?

"…You'll…find out?"

"Oooh…!" Yellow grinned. "I can't wait!"

Well, whatever. He's accomplished setting up a fire. Shadow sat down, and glanced around for wherever he had set down the jerky.

The wolf's howl echoed through the mountains. It sounded much closer this time.

Yellow yelped. "There it is again!"

Oh, of all the damn things… Shadow turned his head, scanning the sparse landscape around where the sound came. Nothing but the trees and rocks.

"I don't see anything," he said.

Of course, that was when a large dark shape emerged from between two fir trees. It stepped – revealing its bipedal stance – within their baby fire's dim radius of light.

It was a grey wolf, but only if you stretched and twisted one to fit a nearly human frame, and added other bits that weren't supposed to be there. Bared claws on front paws that looked suspiciously like stunted hands, for example. It was almost twice Shadow's height, and wore maroon and purple tattered scraps, perhaps from unfortunates who had met it before. A scraggly light blue mane shot down its head, and dangled in front of angry, brutish eyes.

It bared a snarl of craggy teeth, the beast's hot snorting breaths turning into fog in the night air.

Yellow cried out and zipped behind Shadow's back, cowering.

"…Ah." Shadow sighed, and stood up. At least he already had his sword out. "Nevermind."

The creature growled, dropped on all fours, and leaped. Shadow took a swing at the darkness. It was unable to stop itself and its head was whacked aside midleap. It landed roughly with a startled whine on its side. Shadow quickly stepped backwards as it recovered and scrambled to its feet. He could feel tiny hands clinging to the back of his tunic.

"Get off and out of the way," he hissed.

"Oh," Yellow let go. "Okay-"

A ball of light in the corner of his eye fled. A normal wolf, just being hungry and trying to hunt something that couldn't kill it back, would have fled too at this point. This thing dove at him again.

Shadow threw himself aside, and the creature tore only through air. It landed and was about to turn when both Shadow's hands thrust the sword deep into its side. It howled with pain and thrashed to force him away, a stray claw raking down his arm. Lines of blood sprung up his left arm, but Shadow didn't let go.

A kick hit him in the face, forcing him to stumble back and regain his balance. The creature stood up to its full height with claws bared, breathing raggedly, the gaping hole in its side oozing blood down its body.

Shadow dove forwards into its faltering swing, closed his eyes, and buried the sword in its stomach.

For a moment, it kept standing. Then it made a few unhealthy-sounding choking noises, and thudded to the ground.

Shadow opened his eyes, and waited a moment just to be sure, then stepped forwards to draw his sword from its body. He drew it across the grass to wipe off the blood, and sheathed it, making a note to himself to clean the blade more thoroughly later.

Then he paused, and stared down at the dead thing at his feet. His eyes were, in more ways than one, used to the darkness, and unflinchingly took in the details of it. Somehow, the gut wounds were the least grotesque thing about the creature. He should be feeling something… Surprise, maybe. Revulsion. Pity. This wasn't something he had seen or fought before. Bokoblins, yes. Bandits, yes. Cursed chests that ate shields and/or hands, yes. Not…whatever this thing was. This twisted, monstrous, stupid thing whose instincts had told it all the wrong things.

He couldn't come up with much besides "tired".

"Yay! Good job!"

Shadow jumped. Oh. Right. His dramatic monologue had forgotten that Yellow was here.

"You've slain the monster!" His little voice came from a ways behind him. "At least, uh- That was the sound of you doing that, right? Are you alive? Is it safe to look?"

Shadow turned around. Yellow was in the air behind the fire — so that was where he went — holding his tiny hands over his eyes.

"Yes, Yellow, I killed it."

He peeked out from between teeny tiny fingers, and with great relief let his hands down. "That's good! Oh, but–" He fluttered forwards, tiny expression filled with concern. "You're hurt!"

The claw marks on his arm hadn't yet stopped bleeding. Shadow shrugged. He's been through worse.

"Don't worry, though," Yellow began.

Shadow walked past him towards the sleeping bag, casually kicking dirt over the fire on his way to smother it. The bright orange died. "I'm not worried."

"Uh- Well-" He stuttered, verbally tripped u. Yellow recovered and trailed behind Shadow. "Okay, but you should-"

"I'm fine." He sat down. "I'm going to lay down now."

"I, I wouldn't call all that blood _fine–_"

"Unless you can magically heal it and make it go away," Shadow said, intent on wiggling the sleeping bag to slide it over his legs, _"just_ _let me go to sleep."_

"Oh!" Yellow lit up, smiling. "Well, then, I have good news!"

"You'll let me sleep."

"Well, yes, but- In a moment, promise. Here," Yellow flew towards him. "Let me show you."

He stopped at Shadow's arm. His soft glow flared into a bright yellow flash. Shadow winced as the light stabbed him in the eyes, and squeezed them shut a little too late. A bright red afterimage danced on the inside of his eyelids.

It faded, and Yellow chirped, "There, done! Look!"

Cautiously, Shadow opened his eyes again, not sure what to expect. At a minimum, maybe another very bright light. Or to hear "Wait, that wasn't right…" and then feel very keenly the results of an amateur ineptly doing magic.

All his vigilance brought to his attention was that his arm had stopped hurting.

He slowly turned it over, examining it. The blood, the wound, and even an unrelated bruise he'd had before were completely gone, as if the fight had never happened.

"Oh," he said, turning over his arm one more time just to be sure. How unsettling… "You…healed me."

"Uh huh!" Yellow nodded.

Shadow looked up at him. "You know I'm not anywhere near done yet, right?"

"Huh?" Yellow blinked. "You were- You were hurt, and I can heal…so I did? I don't understand the question."

"I get the reward _after _the quest." He said slowly, as though it were a rule of life that everyone had to learn at some point. "I've barely started on yours."

Yellow turned this over in his tiny head, trying to see the point of this new concept. Then he flipped it upright again, like an uncooked pancake of the mind, still not quite understanding.

"I…can heal," he repeated slowly, since this was the thing he was sure of. "So…I did. Uh…" Yellow thought very hard. The hypothetical pancake sizzled in the pan. "You're already doing me a huge favor; I-I wasn't trying to make you do _more_ stuff for me, or anything? I just, you know, figure that since you're helping me, I should help you too!"

"…Hm." Shadow's brows lowered. "There's an idea."

"Is it that strange?" Yellow blinked. "Uh, isn't being nice to people who are helping you what everybody does?"

Shadow did not answer him. He said, "Good night," with a stern finality, and lay down in the sleeping bag with his eyes firmly shut.

The pancake was finally golden brown, and emerged fully formed from the pan. "Oh…" said Yellow. "Um, good night."

He hovered there for a while, thinking, which he was not fast at. New pancakes, slowly cooking. What was he going to do about this…?

Then Yellow made a decision, and looked down. He couldn't tell whether Shadow was asleep, or just had his eyes closed and was still trying to get to that point, but his only movement was slow, tired-sounding breaths. The fairy made a quiet, thoughtful hum, and landed gently on the ground by Shadow's head. He sent himself to sleep too, waiting for daylight with his new charge.


End file.
